A native of Charleston, S.C., Bendt discusses his early working career after withdrawing from Murray Vocational High School. Bendt also recalls seeing Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the president's visit to the Charleston shipyard. Upon joining the Army, he attended basic training at Fort Jackson (Columbia, S.C.), infantry training at Camp Wheeler (Macon, GA.), reported to Fort Meade (Baltimore, MD.), and was sent to Campu Shanks (New York) before shipping out of New Jersey. Assigned to the Second Army Division in France as a replacement, Bendt arrived on the continent on D-Day plus six. Bendt discusses his brief captivity at the hands of the Germans, while in combat along the Rhine River.